Don't Worry Darling

It is less than the sum of Florence Pugh's performance.

Hollow and disappointing.

After this promising start the film seems not to know quite where to go next. The ending is certainly a let-down, and perhaps the screenplay should have had another rewrite.

Don’t Worry Darling is initially captivating because of all that it promised but when it devolves into little more than a few nods to stronger, more memorable predecessors, it becomes victim to its own ambitions and set-up.

The film sets out to lure us into the retro fantasy so that we can share the shock of Alice’s awakening - which looks a lot like a mental breakdown, with Pugh acting in a much more realistic register than anyone else.

It takes a while for Don’t Worry Darling to reveal itself as abysmal, because it spends such a grueling amount of time being merely pedestrian.

Despite great chemistry between Pine and Pugh and amazing production & costume design, the obvious and nonsensical plot and Harry Styles' unconvincing performance ultimately sinks the film. Also: Why is this 2 hours long?!

There is a great film in the bones of the one we are presented with, one that is neater and more compact and doesn’t struggle with the internal logic it presents.

An array of half-baked ideas that add up to nothing much more than a world of mirages.

The ample running time clocks in at just over two hours, and there is no doubt that Don’t Worry Darling would be improved with at least 15 fewer minutes of the simmering dread...